Where to find motivation at work

You can always go back and change it, but getting started will help you get into the groove of working. Try to create a routine that helps you ease into the workday and build momentum. If drinking coffee makes you feel more productive, make sure to brew a cup — or three — to help you transition into work mode. This is a great way to get your brain in the mood to work and organically move into a productive state of mind.

Build a professional resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Before smartphones took control of our lives, leaving your work at the office was the standard, and taking work home with you required additional effort and planning.

After work hours , limit the time you spend checking your email or doing anything work-related. Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow. Feeling like your work matters and feeling a connection to your coworkers can have a huge effect on how motivated we are at work. Solution: Reconnecting with your work and your coworkers. Remind yourself of why your work is important to you and what you expect to gain as far as career goals.

If you need to connect with your colleagues, make an effort to talk to them — get to meetings early to engage in small talk , or just strike up light conversations throughout the day. Our resume builder tool will walk you through the process of creating a stand-out Architect resume.

After a full day of being productive or being semi-productive, at least , it can seem tempting to completely shut down your brain and take to Netflix for the remainder of your day. Spending your off-hours being a total couch potato can be relaxing, but it can also rob you of your motivation to get back to work the next day. Solution: Make more plans. Instead of dedicating your free time to being as unproductive as possible, try to engage in rewarding activities that you can look forward to at the end of a long day.

Maybe this means that you make plans to set aside time to work on your One Direction fanfiction after work, or maybe you schedule an intense game of Settlers of Catan with your friends once a week.

Engaging in an activity that takes a little more effort than laying down and staring at a screen gives you more energy. Uncertain rewards are harder to set up at work, but not impossible.

In a study scientists from the University of Pennsylvania asked people to walk 7, steps a day for six months. Online services such as StickK. When people are working toward a goal, they typically have a burst of motivation early and then slump in the middle, where they are most likely to stall out.

For instance, in one study observant Jews were more likely to light a menorah on the first and last nights of Hanukkah than on the other six nights, even though the religious tradition is to light candles for eight successive days.

In another experiment, participants who were working on a paper-shape-cutting task cut more corners in the middle of the project than they did on their initial and final shapes. Fortunately, research has uncovered several ways to fight this pattern. Giving advice may be an even more effective way to overcome motivational deficits.

You can take advantage of that tendency by thinking of your starting point as being further back in the past; maybe the project began not the first time you took action but the time it was first proposed. My research has found that this shift in perspective can increase motivation. This tactic can work for rote tasks such as sending out 40 thank-you notes as well as for more-qualitative goals becoming an expert pianist. In the same way, a novice pianist should focus on all the scales and skills she has acquired in her early stages of development; then, as she improves, focus on the remaining technical challenges arpeggios, trills and tremolos, and so on she needs to master.

Humans are social creatures. We constantly look around to see what others are doing, and their actions influence our own. Even sitting next to a high-performing employee can increase your output. But when it comes to motivation, this dynamic is more complex. This is not entirely irrational: Humans have thrived as a species through individual specialization and by making the most of their comparative advantages.

Higher levels of motivation generally translate into employees who are more engaged with their work. Motivated employees exhibit higher levels of creativity and innovation and are better problem-solvers. In the face of challenges, motivated employees take on new behaviors and are creative and flexible in looking for workarounds. As a result, they are able to move past inconveniences. Employees who show higher levels of motivation also report higher levels of job satisfaction. Employees who are motivated report higher states of well-being and better mental fitness.

When they are energized and excited to do their work, their physical and mental health improves. Higher motivation leads to an increased sense of well-being. At the same time, improving employee well-being leads to higher levels of motivation. Work motivation is an important lever for managers, and motivating others is a key leadership skill.

In addition to losing the benefits listed above, there are other costs. This hurts in the present, leading to higher costs, lower quality work, and missed revenue opportunities. But it also hurts in the long term. That's because companies with unmotivated employees are unprepared to respond to changing conditions. As a result of reduced creativity and ideas, fewer interesting opportunities or challenges will emerge. This narrows the innovative and creative potential of the organization.

Just as motivation can be contagious, so can be the lack of it. A few unmotivated team members, if left unaddressed, can demotivate others around them. Others may start to question themselves for working so hard or question the ability of the team to deliver impact with such low commitment.

There are numerous theories of motivation across the field of psychology. Employees report that doing work that interests them is the number one factor that motivates them. It could simply mean asking your boss for a new project to keep your interests piqued, or perhaps shifting to a different role at the same company. Request feedback from your boss or colleague. Take a moment to consult a supervisor or colleague. Their feedback could be key to getting clarity for your next role.

Learn a new skill. It never hurts to have another skill to add to your resume, and data indicates that learning new skills keeps your brain sharp. Identify a skill relevant to your current role that interests you, and pitch the idea to your boss. Ask for a raise. Research what employees in roles similar to yours are making.